GSI Outdoors Blog

Not Your Grandma's Cookware: Classics Get An Upgrade

It seems like everyone’s doing things the old fashioned way these days: listening to records, buying veggies at farmers markets, and practicing film photography; some dedicated folks are even going back to using typewriters. The good news is, you don’t have to revert to using an...

How to Plan a Last-minute Spring Break Backpacking Trip

It seems like we were just talking about our New Year’s resolutions, and yet spring break is somehow right around the corner. (It snuck up on us, too.) So if you’re one of the lucky ones who gets to enjoy spring break--or just wants to...

A Match Made in Camp Heaven: Find Your Cookset Soulmate

Finding the perfect cookset for your camping needs can seem as difficult as trying to find your soulmate. With such diverse options on the market, it’s hard to know which sets are the right fit for you - and which ones are just leading you on. It’s...

#Panlife: Easy meals you can make in a single pan in 30 minutes or less

Fresh air won’t be the only breeze on your next car camping trip. With a little bit of prep beforehand, you can spend less time cooking and washing dishes and more time adventuring after eating a gourmet warm, hearty meal. We put together 7 easy camp meals...

Meet Infinity polypropylene: one small step for camping, one large step for mother earth.

Once you spend as much time thinking about plastics as we do, you learn not all plastic is created equal. Polycarbonate plastic is particularly undesirable: it absorbs food odors, leaches chemicals into food, and weighs down backpacks with its heavy structure. Nobody wants smelly, unsafe, heavy dishware ruining...

6 Microadventure Ideas to Make the Most of Your Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. And since it falls on a Wednesday right in the middle of the week this year, it can be hard for most busy working adults to consider any special plans beyond dinner and Netflix. We may not be experts...

Everything You Need to Know About Microlites

These days, reusable water bottles are no longer just environmentally friendly: they’re engineered with the latest top secret temperature engineering technology. It’s come to the point where your bottle might be one of the most high-tech pieces in your gear collection. This technology overload has led to heavy...

Camping Fails and How to Prevent Them

Camping is one of the best ways to escape your busy schedule and center yourself in what Mother Nature has to offer. There’s nothing quite like waking up to the dawn of a new day under a forest canopy surrounded by fresh mountain air. A weekend camping trip...

5 Camp Breakfasts That Will Make You Actually Want to Leave Your Sleeping Bag

We know the feeling. You’re awakened at an ungodly hour by a vocally blessed bird that has convinced itself it was a rooster in a past life. Everything around you is covered by a layer of wet, as you’ve yet to master the art of tent condensation prevention...

Camp Knives That Will Make You Cut Out Dull Meals

We’re going to take a stab in the dark and guess that you’re not quite as obsessed with knife technology as the design nerds at GSI are. In fact, you’d probably find the intricate details of knife design quite dull; you just want a knife that isn’t. Therefore, we...

New Year's Bucket List

I’ve never been very good at New Year’s resolutions. As someone who rarely knows what I’m eating for dinner on a given day, I’m not so good at setting an intention for an entire year and sticking to it. Goal setting and self improvement is important, but I’ve...

Mark River Roasted Oats

Breakfasts should be easy. They almost always are, when you’re camping, backpacking, or canoeing and must carry all food in and out. Mark “River” Peoples is Chief Guide at the Quapaw Canoe Company, in Clarksdale, Miss., and has been cooking over cookfires in GSI anodized aluminum dutch ovens...

Why You Should Spend NYE Outside

New Year’s Eve celebrations usually start with the best intentions: getting together with friends to celebrate and dance the night away until the clock strikes midnight. Yet more often than not, NYE turns into a headache to rival that of the New Year’s Day hangover: you end up...

Last Chance to Fulfill Your 2017 Resolutions

Let’s be honest: the new year is the time to make promises to yourself you won’t actually keep for more than a month. Life gets in the way, you forget about those big self-improvement dreams, and you fall back into the same routine you had last year. What...

What to Get the Adventurer Who Has Everything

They say the holiday season is all about giving - but what do you give that one friend who has everything? It’s not easy to have a gearhead on your list, because trying to track down a gadget they don’t already have can make you feel like the...

Backcountry Cocoa 3 Ways

Outdoor activities often center around beverages: we boil coffee by the tent, share beers by the campfire, down water on the summit, swig whiskey on the chairlift. We may outgrow our childhood skis, writing letters to Santa, and our pants after Thanksgiving, but we never outgrow our favorite...

Downeaster Cowboy Coffee

Start your day and indulge at night with a full-immersion “cowboy coffee.” The beautify of this recipe is the ability to stretch the pot of coffee twice as long as most other brew methods. When you have served it all, pour new water on the saturated grounds and keep...

Winter Getaway Guide

We consider ourselves lucky to live in the PNW, and wintertime is no exception. The frozen windshields and sidewalk wipeouts are a small price to pay for the endless winter adventure opportunities the northwest holds. For those who reside in less wintery states, planning a trip north...

Don't Leave Your Leftovers Behind

The relatives are gone, the card table is back in the closet, and your bags are packed for your #optoutside adventure. Then the age old post-Thanksgiving dilemma hits you: what are you going to do with all that extra food? No matter how big your family is...

Giving Thanks to the PNW

To many, mention of the Pacific Northwest brings images of man buns, puffy vests, and Starbucks cups. As much as we love our flannel shirts and Subaru wagons, those of us who call the PNW home know the true magic of the Upper Left, USA. The northwestern states...

Soup Season

It took long enough, but there are suddenly signs of winter here in the PNW. The crunch of leaves underfoot has been replaced with the crunch of ice melt. Flecks of bright orange are barely visible under a fresh dusting of snow. Folks are trading trucker hats for...

Quapaw Carbonara

Also referred to as the Eagle’s Nest, this spice-forward, aromatic, and salty dish is a novelty. Inspired by the flavors cooked with the Quapaw Canoe Co. along the Mississippi River, this dish means to take a traditionally rich and fairly simple dish (Spaghetti Carbonara), and imbue it with...

Nest Level Nesting Gear

When it comes to the best camp cooking gear, we’re not winging it. We push ourselves to design nest level gear that our customers will be raven about for years to come. One of our favorite eggstraordinary features to include in our products is nesting capability, to save...

Ode to Adventure Dogs

You’ve probably owned one, grown up with one, or met one sprinting by you on the trail. They are a rare and precious species, the chosen companion of many in the outdoor community. They are Adventure Dogs. In honor of #nationalcampingwithdogsday last weekend, we pay tribute to the...

Pre-Winter Bucket List

You may have noticed the signs: local ski swaps approaching, bike gear going on sale, shorts retreating to the back of the closet, the return of visible breath. Winter is coming. For those at higher elevations, it’s certainly not far off. Soon we’ll be trading trucker hats for beanies...

Partyware? Anywhere!

For many, fall represents the transition to sweaters, raking leaves, and pumpkin spice everything. For those of us with adult beverages on our minds, fall also means it’s time for Oktoberfest, tailgating, ciders, autumn ales, and Irish coffee. ‘Tis the season to party! Partying in...

GSI Joe

As you may have noticed from your Instagram feeds filled with latte art, today is National Coffee Day. If you’re like me, you rely on coffee to get you through each day without doing or saying things you regret. Whether you only indulge sparingly on early mornings or drink...

BACON-CARAMELIZED ONION AND SWEET PEPPER GRITS

Functionally and nutritionally, corn maintains a high status in my kitchen. Fresh off the cob during peak summer farm harvest, pulverized into flour for tortillas, engorged and chewy as hominy, or stone-ground into grits. While canoeing with the Quapaw Canoe Co. early one winter, several years ago, every...

Out-toberfest

Mid-September is here, and you beer-lovers know what that means: Oktoberfest. Yet for most of us, a two week trip to Munich just isn’t in our budget (maybe if we didn’t spend so much money on beer?). The good news is, you can beat the crowds and save some money...

#GSIGIVESBACK

You probably know that here at GSI, we love having fun outdoors. You probably know that we love bringing people together with food. What you might not know, however, is how much we love using our affinity for food in the outdoors as a catalyst for giving back. After all...